12 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



^ John Morris, Mansion,© Wis.. 

 on Dec. 30, 1S84, writes : 



After bavins the coUJest weather known 

 liefore Christmas and the good New Year, 

 and with the thermometer indicating- among 

 the thirties below zero, yet dnrins the last 

 four days the rain has been falling almost 

 continually, and the snow is melting away 

 rapidly. 



^' C. J. Chnrch, Cedar Rapids,*o 

 Iowa, on Dee. 22, 1884, writes : 



I began the spring of 1884 with 58 colo- 

 nies, and increased them to 123 colonies, 

 mostly by natural swarming. I have 9"2 col- 

 onies in the cellar, each having from 20 to 30 

 pounds of honey. My crop for the season 

 ■was, .">49 pounds of comb honey, and 3,681 

 pounds of extracted. 1 have sold 20 colo- 

 nies, and my net profits for the season are 

 $.592.U9. 



^- T. F. Kinsel, Shiloh,5 O., on 

 Dec. 26, 1884, writes : 



t have been reasonably successful the past 

 season. I begun in the spring with 20 colo- 

 nies, increased them to32, took 1,000 pounds 

 of comb honey in two-pound sections, have 

 sold some bees and all the honey that I could 

 spare, and now have 27 colonies in the cel- 

 lar. I wholesaled some of my honty to 

 grocers, and obtained 16 cents per pound; 

 and for what I sold at home, I received 18 

 cents per pound. My bees gathered a great 

 deal of plant-louse honey, and. judging 

 from Prof. Cook's description, some bark- 

 louse honey, too. It was dark, strong, and 

 not good. I am experimenting with a sec- 

 ond swarm. In September I fed it the 

 strongest and rankest honey that I had, and 

 it stored it for winter use. and to-day the 

 bees of that colony are as healthy as any I 

 have, at least so far as I am able' to judge. 

 If that colony lives and does well, I will not 

 feel badly if my bees do gather such stores; 

 for if it is fit to oat in winter, it will be far 

 better to feed for stimulating purposes in 

 the summer or any time except winter. I 

 have kept bees since 1871, and I have never 

 had any bad honey until this year, so I feel 

 encouraged to think that " bug honey " may 

 be like "angels visits." 



1^ H. H. Hance, Brvan,-o O., on 

 Dec. 22, 1884, writes : 



As a general thing, bees in this locality 

 have done very poorly. Thej^ have not 

 gathered sufficient honey to winter on. and 

 what they have gathered is of a poor quality, 

 so I fear that the result will be disastrous to 

 a great many bee-keepers. I started with .50 

 colonies, spring count, increased them to 76. 

 sold one, lost 5 through want of care, and 

 one colony absconded. I took .300 pounds 

 of comb honey in the forepart of the season, 

 but I had to feed back some 500 pounds of 

 eranulated sugar. I have them all packed 

 in clover chatT on the summer stands, and 

 all are now in good condition. 



1^ L. Hiehbarger, Adeline, 5 Ills., 

 on Dec. 22, 1884, writes : 



Bees did fairly well during the past sum- 

 mer. White clover was good, and so my 

 crop was all clover honey. We did not have 

 enough fall honey to keep the bees rearing 

 brood, so as to be strong in bees when put 

 into winter quarters. 1 apprehend a heavy 

 loss of bees by spring among young colo- 

 nies, for the want of sufficient stores. The 

 following is the way in which I prepare my 

 bees for winter: In October I put a pair 

 of scales on a small hand-sled, enter the bee- 

 yard, put the first hive on the scales and 

 weigh it; then mark the weight on the hive, 

 and so on with all the hives, when I am 

 ready to equalize their stores. I want each 

 colony to have from 25 to 30 jiounds of 

 good honey. My hives, when tilled with 

 empty eombs, weigh about 30 jiounds, and 

 if I find one which weighs 80 jiounds. and 

 another40 pounds. 1 take 30 poundsof stores 

 from the heavier and give it to the lighter 

 one. so I have each weigh about 00 pounds. 

 1 think that this plan is better than guess- 

 work, as I never had one starve. On Dec. 1. 

 or when I think that winter is about set in. T 

 carry them into the cellar, wiiich is so par- 

 titioned off as to make it dark. I then cover 



the floor with air-slaekert lime, elevate the 

 hive-bottoms 8 or 10 inches from the ground, 

 and then tier them up 4 and 5 high. I think 

 the lime is a good aljsorbent, and also puri- 

 fies the air. 1 keep all my fruit and veget- 

 ables in the cellar, never pay any attention 

 to pollen, and have not lost a colony of 1 ees 

 since adopting the above plan. I give full 

 ventilation below, and raise the honey- 

 board by sticking a shingle nail under each 

 corner of it. 



I^° C. H. Cbapm.an (130—1.50), Co- 

 hoctali, 9 Mich., on Decemljer 22, 1884, 

 gives his report as follows : 



Last June I looked for a booster 

 In bees, in honey, and cash; 



But now I've no room for a rooster, 

 My "castle " is broken to smash. 



I'd colonies six score and ten, 

 June gave me sixty more. 



With snow white honey quite a ton- 

 Then presto all was o'er. 



In July linden froze to death. 

 White clover bloom ran farrow; 



Chilled by Lapland's icy breath, 

 My rooster's scarce a sparrow. 



August gave but little bloom; 



No dewy tears were shed: 

 With bee-hives silent as the tomb. 



My rooster now was dead. 



September with her generous flowers. 



With brood tilled e^-e^y cell: 

 And ere Jack Krost usurped the flowers, 



All, all again seemed well. 



Thus hope for brood and bees survive, 



My much lamented bird: 

 That there is w<';ilth w itliin the hive, 



I don't much doubt the word. 



But, should my luckless rooster crow 



Again in " eighty-flve," 

 I hope to let the readers know 

 There's wealth within the hive. 



^" R. Lonnsbury, Fort Collins, 5 

 Colo., on Dec. 22, 1884, writes : 



Last winter I wintered 15 colonies of bees 

 without loss, excepting that two had from a 

 jjint to a quart of dead bees in their hives, 

 and one dwindled down in the spring, but 

 the three became full colonies, and are now 

 as good and strong as any I have. My method 

 of preparing them for winter is as follows; 

 I close them up on the summer stands with- 

 in 4 or 6 inches apart, bank them up with 

 fine straw between boards about 18 inches 

 apart on the west and north sides, and the 

 east and south sides I simply lK>ard up, then 

 the whole is covered with boards to keep off 

 the storm. I had only 7 swarms during the 

 past season, and as I liad contracted for that 

 nmnber.it left me without any increase. For 

 a short time during the forepart of the sea- 

 son, my bees gathered some honey, and then 

 for a long time, i>erhaps by the middle of 

 September, I secured probably an average 

 of 12 or 15 pounds per colony besides enough 

 for them to winter on. I sold my comb 

 honey at 25 cents per pound, and the ex- 

 tracted for 18 cents per pound. 



W A. Wicherts, Mattison,(^ Ills., 

 on Dec. 26, 1884, writes ; 



T begun the spring of 1884 with 80 colo- 

 nies of bees, one of them being weak in 

 stores, and increased them to 120. I have 

 sold 10 colonies, thus leaving me 110, and 

 20 of those are nothing more than nuclei 

 colonies. I have them all in a cellar 

 specially made for them last fall. It is 10x24 

 feet, and is under n!,\' house. They were 

 put into the cellar at three dilferent times, 

 and those put in first are all right, while 

 the second lot has many dead bees, and the 

 third have died terribly. I think that cold 

 did it, as the mercury was below zero for 

 three nights. M:t' honey crop is 2,000 pounds 

 of como honey in one-pound sections, and 

 1.500 pounds of extracted. I sohl all of it, 

 except 500 pounds of comb honey, at an 

 average of 14 cents per pound, in my home 

 market. I could have sold several thous- 

 and pounds more of extracted honey at 12 

 cents per pound if I had had it. 



i^" T. B. Dickinson, Hiawatha, d 

 Kans., on Dec. 31, 1884, writes : 



The season of 1884 has been a very poor 

 one. I got a little over 200 pounds of honey 

 from 8 colonies, and I think that all of my 

 surplus honey was gathered from Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant, cultivated around the 

 edge of my garden, and in an old road-way 

 in lots fenced in. It bloomed from the 

 middle of June until the latter part of 

 August, and my bees worked on it daily 

 from daylight until dark. I got nearly all 

 the surplus honey that was taken about 

 this town. 



^° F, Schmitt, Yazoo City,*o Miss,, 

 on Dec. 31, 1884, writes : 



Our honey crop has been very poor this 

 year. I began the season with 50 colonies, 

 increased them to 130, and secured 3,600 

 pounds of extracted honey. 



1^ L. G. Purvis, Oregon,~o Mo., 

 on Dec. 29, 1884, writes : 



In the fall of 1883 I put 33 colonies into 

 winter quarters, and lost one by its being 

 queenless. I commenced the season of 1884 

 with 32 colonies. 2 of which were queenless, 

 and increased them by natural swarming 

 and diWding to 49 colonies, and then I 

 doubled them back to 47. The past season 

 was the poorest one for honey that I have 

 seen in the twelve years that' I have been 

 keeping bees. I obtained only 3.50 pounds 

 of honey, and then I had to feed SIO worth 

 of sugar syrup in order to get them ready 

 for winter. I have 20 colonies in a cave, and 

 the rest packed in forest leaves on the sum- 

 mer stands. 



Convention Notices. 



The Nortlieastfrn Michigan Bee- 



Keepers Association %viil liokl its third 

 annual convention on Feb. 4, 1885, at Vas- 

 sar, Mich. W. Z. Hutchinsos, Sec. 



I^W The next meeting of the Southern 

 Wisconsin Bee-Keepers' Association will 

 be held at tlie usual place in Janesville, 

 Wis., on Jan, 6, 1885. 



J. T. PojEEKOY, Sec. 



The Northeastern Ohio and Northwest- 

 ern Pennsylvania Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion will hold its sixth annual convention 

 in the Y. M. C. A. rooms, on the corner of 

 10th and Peach Streets, Erie, Pa., on 

 Wednesday and Thursilay, Jan. 14 and 15, 

 1885. First-class hotel accoinniodations 

 may be had at the Wilcox House, for $1.00 

 per day to those attending tlie convention. 

 A general invitation is extended. 



C. H. CooN, Sec. 



l^" The Marshall County, Iowa, Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will meet at the Court 

 House in Marshalltown, Iowa, on Saturday, 

 Jan. 17. at liii.'io a. ni. .-Subjects for discus- 

 sion: S])ring niunagi'iiicnt of an apiary and 

 apiai-iaii supplies. Essays: M. A. Jackson, 

 " 1 1\ .r Prdduction," and F. H. Hunt, "Queen- 

 Kearing and How t<t Italianize an Apiary." 

 A general invitation is extended to bee- 

 keepers outside of our own county. All 

 who have anything that Avill be of interest 

 to bee-keepers, will please bring it along. 

 J. W. Sanders, Sec. 



t^~ The Cortland L'nion Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will hold its next meeting at Cort- 

 land, N. Y., on Jan. '27, 188.5. 



M.G. n-\nBV, Sec. 



1^ Ever)- subscriber is kindly in- 

 vited to obtain a jjew subscriber to 

 send with his renewal. Please notice 

 the premiums offered for clubs, on 

 another page. 



